Interview with Lisa Prostak

Lisa Prostak grew up in Medford, Massachusetts in an Italian family then later moved to Randolph, Massachusetts. She is very family-oriented and has three grown children. She works as a science teacher at a private elementary school with the hope to impact future generation’s relationship with science. She usually knits but when the Covid-19 pandemic began she made masks for her family and friends, then wanted to donate to medical personnel which led her to join the Auntie Sewing Squad when she saw them on Facebook. With more time, she wants to become more involved in women’s rights activism.https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/auntiesewing_interviews/1020/thumbnail.jp

NMDA Receptor Phosphorylation at a Site Affected in Schizophrenia Controls Synaptic and Behavioral Plasticity

Phosphorylation of the NR1 subunit of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) at serine (S) 897 is markedly reduced in schizophrenia patients. However, the role of NR1 S897 phosphorylation in normal synaptic function and adaptive behaviors are unknown. To address these questions, we generated mice in which the NR1 S897 is replaced with alanine (A). This knock-in mutation causes severe impairment in NMDAR synaptic incorporation and NMDAR-mediated synaptic transmission. Furthermore, the phosphomutant animals have reduced AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-mediated synaptic transmission, decreased AMPAR GluR1 subunit in the synapse, and impaired long-term potentiation. Finally, the mutant mice exhibit behavioral deficits in social interaction and sensorimotor gating. Our results suggest that an impairment in NR1 phosphorylation leads to glutamatergic hypofunction that can contribute to behavioral deficits associated with psychiatric disorders

Credo-baptyzm i polityka wyznaniowa. Rozdział Kościoła od państwa, wolność i tolerancja religijna w pismach pierwszych baptystów

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the relationships between the Baptist understanding of baptism (credobaptism; believer’s baptism) and church and the religious policy promoted by the early Baptists. The following texts are explored: A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity (1612) by Thomas Helwys; Persecution for Religion Judged and Condemned (1615) by John Murton; and Religious Peace: Or, a Plea for Liberty of Conscience (1614) by Leonard Busher. Helwys and Murton were leaders of the congregation of Spitalfields, the first Baptist community in the Kingdom of England. Busher, lesser known, probably belonged to the congregation, and his said work is the first treaty to defend freedom of religion by a Baptist.Celem niniejszego opracowania jest rekonstrukcja związków między baptystycznym rozumieniem chrztu i Kościoła a polityką wyznaniową promowaną przez pierwszych baptystów – przez Thomasa Helwysa [autora A Short Declaration of the Misery of Iniquity (1612)] i Johna Murtona [autora Persecution for Religion Judged and Condemned (1615)], liderów kongregacji ze Spitalfields, pierwszej wspólnoty baptystycznej w Królestwie Anglii, oraz, nieco mniej znanego, Leonarda Bushera, który najpewniej do tej wspólnoty należał, a którego Religion’s Peace; a Plea for Liberty of Conscience (1614) jest pierwszym traktatem w obronie wolności religijnej autorstwa baptysty

Monstrous Maternity: Folkloric Expressions of the Feminine in Images of the Ubume

The ubume is a ghost of Japanese folklore, once a living woman, who died during either pregnancy or childbirth. This thesis explores how the religious and secular developments of the ubume and related figures create a dichotomy of ideologies that both condemn and liberate women in their roles as mothers. Examples of literary and visual narratives of the ubume as well as the religious practices that were employed for maternity-related concerns are explored within their historical contexts in order to best understand what meaning they held for people at a given time and if that meaning has changed. These meanings and the actions taken to avoid becoming an ubume and to avoid interacting with one create a metanarrative that contributes to our understanding of the historical experience of women

Credobaptism and religious policy. Separation of church and state, freedom of religion, and religious tolerance in the writings of the early Baptists

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the relationships between the Baptist understanding of baptism (credobaptism; believer’s baptism) and church and the religious policy promoted by the early Baptists. The following texts are explored: A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity (1612) by Thomas Helwys; Persecution for Religion Judged and Condemned (1615) by John Murton; and Religious Peace: Or, a Plea for Liberty of Conscience (1614) by Leonard Busher. Helwys and Murton were leaders of the congregation of Spitalfields, the first Baptist community in the Kingdom of England. Busher, lesser known, probably belonged to the congregation, and his said work is the first treaty to defend freedom of religion by a Baptist

A Model for the Ultrastructure of Bone Based on Electron Microscopy of Ion-Milled Sections

The relationship between the mineral component of bone and associated collagen has been a matter of continued dispute. We use transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of cryogenically ion milled sections of fully-mineralized cortical bone to study the spatial and topological relationship between mineral and collagen. We observe that hydroxyapatite (HA) occurs largely as elongated plate-like structures which are external to and oriented parallel to the collagen fibrils. Dark field images suggest that the structures (“mineral structures”) are polycrystalline. They are approximately 5 nm thick, 70 nm wide and several hundred nm long. Using energy-dispersive X-ray analysis we show that approximately 70% of the HA occurs as mineral structures external to the fibrils. The remainder is found constrained to the gap zones. Comparative studies of other species suggest that this structural motif is ubiquitous in all vertebrates